(Reuters) – Indian logistics services provider Blue Dart Express reported a flat third-quarter profit on Wednesday, snapping four straight quarters of profit fall, driven by festive season-induced demand recovery.
Consolidated net profit rose to 888.9 million Indian rupees ($10.70 million) from 886.6 million rupees a year ago in the December quarter, the Deutsche Post DHL Group-controlled company said.
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KEY CONTEXT
Logistic companies have been grappling with increased competition, slow demand and volatile air turbine fuel (ATF) rates, which form a major part of their expenses. Freight prices continued to remain low, with demand yet to see a major pickup.
Blue Dart Express’ market share has remained stagnant in the surface express segment, facing competition from other players, Emkay Global analysts noted. Its premium pricing strategy has also led to the company losing market share in the business-to-client express segment, they added.
Rival Container Corporation of India reported a 12% profit rise in the December quarter, supported by festive season-induced demand.
PEER COMPARISON
Valuation (next 12 Estimates (next 12 Analysts’ sentiment
months) months)
RIC PE EV/EBITDA Revenue Profit Mean # of Stock to Div
growth growth rating* analysts price yield
target** (%)
Blue Dart Express Ltd 38.59 17.55 10.56 22.44 Buy 5 0.93 0.44
Container Corporation 35.13 21.75 14.95 17.74 Hold 12 1.12 1.28
of India Ltd
Transport Corporation 16.45 12.04 14.15 16.01 Strong 3 0.93 0.81
of India Ltd Buy
Mahindra Logistics Ltd 47.70 9.06 14.72 1447.68 Hold 10 1.14 0.58
* Mean of analysts’ ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell
** Ratio of the stock’s last close to analysts’ mean price target; a ratio above 1 means the stock is trading above the PT
OCTOBER-DECEMBER STOCK PERFORMANCE
— All data from LSEG
— $1 = 83.0920 Indian rupees
(Reporting by Anisha Ajith in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)